Pottsgrove eyes $30 million high school upgrade

LOWER POTTSGROVE — Renovating, upgrading and expanding Pottsgrove High School and its athletic fields could cost as much as $30.5 million, a team of architects revealed Tuesday to the public and the school board.

The team from KCBA Architects of Hatfield has been working on a “feasibility study” since January and presented what architect Michael Kelly described as the most complete set of possibilities for the 40-year-old building.

He said the architects have already looked at a number of scenarios in which less work — and therefore less cost — is undertaken, but warned that because so much of the project is intertwined, with space for one program created by moving another, that any changes will have a larger affect on the whole project.

Some of the work cannot be avoided, Kelly said.

The entire process began when the board decided to move ahead with some new mechanical systems for the building, which itself would cost more than $8 million, as well as the need for a new roof, which is beyond its expected lifespan and is already leaking.

New construction only makes up $5.4 million of the estimate, which Kelly called “broad brush numbers.”

The plan mostly depends on making better use of existing space and expanding a few key areas to enlarge areas where the district wants more focus, such as science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, programs, as well as create more space where it is needed, such as in the music rooms, art rooms and special education space.

Expansions would be planned for the cafeteria, the front vestibule to increase security and add guidance offices, and the “industrial arts” area, which would be transformed into a hands-on engineering lab.

Moving the art area into a new, larger space would allow for the expansion of the music area to create an orchestra room. Music is a growing program in Pottsgrove, Kelly said.

The skinny 9-inch-wide lockers would also be replaced with shorter, wider lockers which would be stacked on top of each other as they are in the middle school, Kelly said.

The plan also calls for curbing to be installed along the north face of the athletic fields along School Lane, a paved lane between the football stadium and baseball field to make it more handicapped accessible, and a drainage system that would funnel water into cisterns beneath the southern-most and most frequently flooded athletic field. That field might also best be converted to artificial turf, Kelly said.

The overall cost to the athletic field improvements was set out as an option and totals $1.9 million.

In order to undertake the project without disturbing student learning, the project could be broken into five phases over two years and three summers, said Mark A. Morella, who is also with KCBA.

During the summer of 2014, the first floor of the two-story southeast wing, special education and art area improvements, and athletics field work would be done, with the possibility of temporary classrooms being set up to house students if necessary, he said.

From September 2014 to June 2015, the additions would be built.

In the summer that followed, the “most ambitious” phase would be undertaken and include renovations to the remaining classroom wing.

From September 2015 to June 2016, renovations would be made to the library, administration, music and second floor of the classroom wing. And finally, in the summer of 2016, “a big chunk” of the work would be done, including work to the auditorium and gymnasium, which needs bleacher work and a new floor.

Morella said the job could be structured so that the work done during the school year is carried out during the “second shift,” so it would largely avoid school hours.

Business Manager David Nester said because portions of Pottsgrove’s existing debt will begin to fall away in coming years, as older bond issues are paid off, the district could conceivably “wrap around” new debt to pay for the project without raising taxes.

Essentially, new payments would replace old ones that have been finished. Under this scenario, debt for the high school work would be paid off in 2027, Nester said.

Given that the state currently has a freeze on participation in the building construction reimbursement program called PlanCon, Nester noted that the calculations he cited assumed no reimbursement from the state.

He noted that three years later, the district still has not received any state reimbursement for the Ringing Rocks Elementary School renovation and expansion project.

He also said the district has $7 million in its capital reserve fund, which it has been building up over the past decade.

A second public meeting on the architects’ proposal has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 29, at the high school. That meeting will be held solely for public discussion of the plan presented Tuesday night.